ATOMIC SKULL I (Albert Michaels)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Gerry Conway and Curt Swan; Martin Pasko and Curt Swan (historical); Tony Isabella and Chuck Patton (canonical)

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Albert Michaels
Occupation: Former Director of STARLabs; later leader of SKULL; professional criminal, semi-retired
Citizenship: American
Base of Operation: Metropolis
Group Affiliation(s): SKULL
Group Affiliation (former): S.T.A.R. Labs
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 180 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
First Appearance: (historical; as Albert Michaels): Superman Vol. 1 #303 (September 1976): "When Lightning Strikes... Thunder Kills!"
(historical; as Atomic Skull): Superman Vol. 1 #323 (May 1978): "The Man With the Self-Destruct Mind!"
(canonical): Teen Titans Spotlight #16 (November 1987)
Creators: Gerry Conway and Curt Swan; Martin Pasko and Curt Swan (historical); Tony Isabella and Chuck Patton (canonical)

HISTORY

The original Atomic Skull was Dr. Albert Michaels, a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist who suffered from a rare nervous order. Using cybernetic implants to re-enable the electrical pulses in his brain, he later found that they gave him the ability to convert his brainwaves into powerful bolts of energy. As the criminal Atomic Skull, Michaels has battled the Flash (II), Firestorm (I), and Thunder and Lightning. For a while, he seemed to have been cured from his criminal persona, but was then psychologically manipulated (along with Magenta) to become one of the sleeper agents of rogue scientist Alysia Damalis.

There is no known connection between Michaels and the second Atomic Skull, Joe Martin.

[Note: Pre-Crisis, Atomic Skull I was primarily a Superman villain. That is no longer canonical. Post-Crisis, he has only appeared once fighting Thunder and Lightning, but it seemed like much of his pre-Crisis history had been kept intact.]

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Atomic Skull in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #1 (March 1985)